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If you had an eight-day week, what would you do on day number 8?

If you had an eight-day week, what would you do on the day 8?

Answers to this question vary obviously from generation to generation, from personal preferences to personal preferences and also from culture to culture. Accordingly to Philip Zimbardo, the co-author of “Time Paradox” when US-Americans were asked to answer this question, most of the respondents said that they would… work. Even though, many people in the USA complain that they do not have enough time to spend with their family and friends nor to commit to heir hobbies while answering that question they decided for the answer "to work more".

We have always got the choice how we wish to shape our futures. Depending on our choices we would answer the question about the 8th day of the week in different modes, depending on what we focus on: the past negative or past positive and involve either present hedonist or present fatalist perspectives and, last but not least, future. We focus on these time categories to a higher or lower extent. The mixture of time perspectives is characteristic for each of us and accordingly to Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd there is one optimal mingling option the enables us functioning in the current (Western) reality in the best possible way. The mixture I have described in the blog on http://www.beyondstorytelling.com/blog-x/2017/12/31/time-perspectives-future-design

If we overgeneralize that US-Americans live accordingly to the rule “Time is money”, “People in Europe have got watches whereas people in Africa have got time” we will wake up in the black and white world with no space for individualism and diversity. If you wish to find out what is your personal pace, and your own tendency toward time urgency I would like to invite you to invest 5 minutes time to answer the following 10 questions, proposed by Levine in his book “Geography of time”:

1. Concern with clock time: Compared to most people, are you particularly aware of the time on the clock? Do you, for example, frequently glance at your watch? Or, on the other hand, are you the sort of person who sometimes forgets the time or even what day of the week it is?

2. Speech patterns: How rushed is your speech? Do you tend to speak faster than other people? When someone takes too long to get to the point while speaking, do you often feel like hurrying them along? Are you a person who accepts interruptions?

3. Eating habits: How rushed is your eating behavior? Are you often the first person finished eating at the table? Do you take time to eat three meals a day in a slow and relaxed manner?

4. Walking speed: Do you walk faster than most people? Do fellow walkers sometimes ask you to slow down?

5. Driving: Do you get excessively annoyed in slow traffic? When you are caught behind a slow driver, do you sometimes honk or make rude gestures to try to speed them up?

6. Schedules: Are you addicted to setting and/or maintaining schedules? Do you allow a specific amount of time for each activity? Do you have a fetish about punctuality?

7. Listmaking: Are you a compulsive listmaker? When preparing for a trip, for example, do you make a list of things to do or things to bring?

8. Nervous energy: Do you have excessive nervous energy? Are you a person who becomes irritable when you sit for an hour without doing something?

9. Waiting: Do you get more annoyed than most people if you have to wait in line for more than a couple of minutes at the bank, a store, or to be seated in a restaurant? Do you sometimes walk out of these places if you encounter even a short wait?

10. Alerts: Do others warn you to slow down? How often have you heard your friends or spouse tell you to take it easier, or to become less tense? (Levine, 2006: Geography of Time, p.20).

Future starts now, and to a great extent, it is up to you what happens next.

Your next step can be an attempt to re-author futures and join our conference in Hamburg on 8th and 9th of June 2018 in Hamburg. I am writing “our conference”, as I am honored to be one of the organizers. And as one of the organizers, I can assure you that it will be a powerful step towards designing your future. For more details check, please: http://www.beyondstorytelling.com
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